A woman crosses the street as crews work to clear Grand Ave of mud and debris, from yesterday’s storm, in Lake Elsinore on Friday, December 7, 2018. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

The storm that drenched Southern California this week has moved east, but debris left behind by mud and water flow have kept county and city cleanup crews busy throughout Friday as they worked to clear roads.

In Riverside County, some residents living in areas scorched by recent wildfires have been left to dig themselves out of the mud and debris.

“It could have been worse, I suppose,” said Carmen Sanchez of Lake Elsinore on Friday, Dec. 7, as she shoveled the three inches of mud that caked her driveway and prevented her garage door from opening.

Sanchez and her family recently moved to Lake Elsinore from Orange. In the past three months, they were evacuated during the Holy fire and then had to prepare for flash floods.

Riverside county emergency services lifted all evacuation orders for the Holy fire burn area Friday morning, but residents were advised to remain vigilant.

#HolyFloodWatch As of today, Friday, December 7th all evacuations have been lifted. The storm forecast has improved for the Holy burn area. Please be prepared for some road closures to remain and use caution returning home.@RivCoReady@CtyLakeElsinore

“We didn’t evacuate during the rains and I think that’s what saved us,” she said scooping up another shovelful of muck to take to the sidewalk on her Washington Street home. “My husband had enough time to put out the sandbags. That helped. The mud didn’t get into the house, but I don’t know what I’ll find in the garage.”

Because of the fire and now the flooding, she said the family of four hasn’t had a chance to fully unpack, and she fears some of their items may have been damaged.

Sanchez and many of her neighbors whose homes sit on the east side of Washington street were digging, shoveling and sweeping debris and mud from their properties.

“We’re lower than that side,” she said. “I think everyone on that side of the street is OK.”

The Holy Fire burn scar is seen above Amorose Street as crews work to clear the mud and debris, from yesterday’s storm, in Lake Elsinore on Friday, December 7, 2018. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

A dump truck turns from Grand Ave onto Amorose Street as work continues on cleaning up the mud and debris, from yesterday’s storm, in Lake Elsinore on Friday, December 7, 2018. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

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A woman crosses the street as crews work to clear Grand Ave of mud and debris, from yesterday’s storm, in Lake Elsinore on Friday, December 7, 2018. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Mud sits in the middle of the road as crews work to clear Amorose Street of mud and debris, from yesterday’s storm,
in Lake Elsinore on Friday, December 7, 2018. (Photo by Jennifer Cappuccio Maher, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Heavy rains over two days had led to flooding and debris flows in the Lake Elsinore area, on the edge of the path of the Holy fire, which ripped through 23,136 acres in Riverside and Orange counties in August.

Although the Corona Fire Department advised residents living in the Canyon fire burn-scar area to remain vigilant, evacuation orders were never issued for the area.

Crews were out early Friday morning clearing the roads of mud.

Grand Avenue was shut down from Alvarado to Machado streets for the clean up.

Trabuco Canyon Road, a main connection to Rancho Santa Margarita and the canyon areas of Trabuco Canyon and Santiago Canyon, remained closed throughout Friday and into the evening. The debris flows had ripped guardrails away from both sides of the road.

Crews working from Thursday night to Friday used large tractors and other heavy equipment to haul away 12 truckloads of debris, said Shannon Widor spokesman for Orange County’s public works department. In all, 252 tons of debris were removed from the area.

Public works crews in Los Angeles County made easy work of several mudslides on Thursday — one that temporarily closed Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, and another on Mulholland Drive in the Woolsey fire burn area that was still closed to the public.

Steven Frasher, spokesman for the Los Angeles county public works department said tractors worked to clear debris from other mountain roads throughout the county on Friday.

Over the next two weeks, crews will work to clear debris basins along Country Club Drive in Burbank.

Though the storm brought minor mud and debris flows to wildfire burn areas, Frasher pointed out that the high volumes of rain replenished thirsty hills and mountainsides, which will hopefully provide growth of vegetation.

The rain also provided more than 2 billion gallons of water to standing damns and large groundwater supply fields that are eventually used for drinking water, Frasher said. One third of the county’s drinking water supplies come from these large water fields.

Southern California will have a chance to dry out and clean up over the next few days as no rain was expected at least well into next week, according to the National Weather Service.

But temperatures will remain chilly.

On Thursday, flooding was reported across the region, leading to vehicles getting trapped in rising waters and roads being washed out.

Lake Elsinore can expect to see temperatures remain in the upper 40s at night and swing upward to the upper 60s during the days this coming weekend.

The beach communities from Malibu to Newport Beach will be a little warmer, dipping to the low 50s at night with highs in the upper 60s during the day, according to the National Weather Service.

Further inland, cities including Norwalk, El Monte and San Fernando will see mild temperatures from the low 50s to the upper 60s and low 70s. The local mountains will be frigid with temps from the mid 20s to the mid 50s into this weekend.

Beatriz E. Valenzuela is an award-winning journalist who’s covered breaking news in Southern California since 2006 and has been on the front lines of several national and international news events. She’s worked for media outlets serving Southern California readers covering education, local government, entertainment and all things nerd including comic book culture and video games. She’s an amateur obstacle course racer, constant fact-checker, mother of three and lover of all things adorable.